The show is at Royal Hibernian Academy, 15 Ely Place, Dublin 2 and then moving to London.

The events feature leading artists of the 20th century including Sir John Lavery, Sir William Orpen, Jack Butler Yeats, Walter Osborne, Paul Henry, Roderic O’Conor, along with Louis le Brocquy, who died in 2012. In an innovative move, there is also a selection of works by contemporary Irish artists...Among contemporary works on offer is Gottfried Helnwein's photorealistic oil-and-acrylic-on-canvas work “The Murmur of the Innocents 45,”

Sotheby’s is seizing on a revival of interest in Irish art by putting
on a show of some of the finest in Dublin – and then selling it in
London next month.

The events feature leading artists of the 20th
century including Sir John Lavery, Sir William Orpen, Jack Butler
Yeats, Walter Osborne, Paul Henry, Roderic O’Conor, along with Louis le
Brocquy, who died in 2012. In an innovative move, there is also a
selection of works by contemporary Irish artists.

The sale marks the 20th anniversary since the time when Sotheby’s became the first international auction house to hold dedicated sales of Irish art.

“Over
the past two years our global buyer base has expanded,” says Arabella
Bishop, head of Sotheby’s Ireland. The loyal following of collectors
seen from the first sale in 1995 is now bolstered by more demand from
those outside Ireland, she said.

Among the works is Lavery’s “Japanese Switzerland,” an oil-on-panel
work with an estimate of £300,000 to £500,000 (as much as €685,000 or
about $760,000.) Lavery’s family was visiting Wengen, in the Bernese
Oberland, at the end of November 1912, after a heavy snowfall. The
painting’s title is misleading: while the work resembles a Japanese
Ukioye print, it depicts Lavery’s wife Hazel, and step-daughter, Alice,
his most consistent models in Wengen. Hazel was to become the most
familiar “Irish” face in the 20th century, being featured on the Irish
currency up to 1975.

Another highly-estimated work also has some
roots outside Ireland. Orpen’s “Nude Girl Reading,” an oil-on-canvas
work from 1912, also estimated at as much as £500,000, shows his model
and mistress Yvonne Aubicq in Paris.

There are a number of Jack
Butler Yeats oils on offer, including the semi-abstract “The Talkers,”
(as much as £250,000) dating from the last decade of his life.

Among contemporary works on offer is Gottfried Helnwein’s photorealistic
oil-and-acrylic-on-canvas work “The Murmur of the Innocents 45,” which
may fetch as much as £50,000. Helnwein’s work references Nazi horrors of
Austria, though he moved to Ireland in 1997, where he now lives and
works.

The sculptures include some by John Behan such as “Cu Chulainn,” a
bronze, sheet metal and welding rods figure made in 1992 and estimated
at as much as £10,000. This has a stronger Irish connection, portraying
the invincible “Ulster Cycle” warrior who will remain alive until
Morrigan, the crow goddess, settles on his shoulder. The bird has just
landed there in the sculpture.

The show is at Royal Hibernian Academy, 15 Ely Place, Dublin 2 and then moving to London.